Kossuth County - American Courthouses

Kossuth County is named for Lajos Kossuth, who was a Hungarian patriot and who lived from 1802 to 1894.

Surrounding County Courthouses:

N – Martin County, Minnesota and Faribault County, Minnesota

E – Winnebago County and Hancock County

S – Humboldt County

W – Palo Alto County and Emmet County

Created: January 18, 1851

County Seat:

Algona 1866 – present

County Courthouse – Algona

Location: 114 West State Street / North Hall Street

Built: 1953 – 1954

Style: Modern

Architect: Dougher, Rich & Woodburn of Des Moines

Contractor: Fagre Construction Company

Description: The building faces south and is a three story buff colored brick and concrete structure. The building is located on landscaped grounds in the center of Algoma. The building has a raised basement as the first story and a higher section at the west side. The south front has vertical concrete dividers with smaller vertical dividers separating the windows. The entrance is towards the west side with a projecting overhang and glass walls. The roof line is flat. In the interior, the County District Court courtroom is located on the southwest side of the third story. There is a small courtroom located on the east side. The building houses the County District Court of the 3A Judicial District.

See: The architect Dougher, Rich & Woodburn of Des Moines also designed courthouse in Buchanan County, Cass County, Humboldt County, Jones County and Scott County.

See: The 3A Judicial District includes Buena Vista County, Cherokee County, Clay County, Dickinson County, Emmet County, Lyon County, O’Brien County. Osceola County and Palo Alto County.

History: The county was created in 1851 and Algona was selected as the county seat. The county offices were housed in various buildings. In 1866 to 1867, the first courthouse was a frame structure built at a cost of $800 with lumber hauled from Boonesboro. The second courthouse was an Italianate structure designed by M Mix and constructed by Peter Purvis in 1872 to 1874 at a cost of $40,000. The third and present courthouse was constructed in 1953 to 1954 at a cost of $500,000.